History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.92

v7.c95.92

The unalloyed Upanisad doctrine appears to be that, even when a man does good actions, they produce good results, to enjoy which the soul would have to undergo the bondage of fresh good births and thus liberation will be put off. Therefore, complete renunciation of all actions and their rewards was inculcated for the sannyāsin, who was to give up all desires for wealth, progeny and higher worlds and beg for alms as long as the body lasts. As no other course of conduct for the sannyāsin is specified here, it would have to be deemed that the Upanisad teaches only this mode of life for the sannyāsin. This view is further strengthened by other passages of the Upanisads, where it is said that the liberated are beyond sukṛta (good deeds and their consequences) and duskṛta (evil deeds and their consequences). The Chāndgoya says²⁴⁶⁹ "the self is a bank (a dike or ridge) so that these worlds are kept asunder and are not confounded, day and night do not pass beyond (over) bank, nor old age, death and misery, neither good deeds nor evil deeds; all evil deeds turn away from him, for the world of *brahma* is free from all evil'. Similarly, the Kausītaki Up. says "being freed from good actions and from evil ones, this knower of brahma moves towards *brahma* (i e becomes one with or is absorbed in brahma)'.